Danny Panter – Page 40 – The Everyday Prayer

No Health-Wealth Gospel Here

Re: Verse reading–Esther 4:4-17; 7:1-6 (day six)

“For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Mordecai, Esther 4:14

A health-wealth gospel exalts the potential and immediate blessings from God over God himself; it treasures treasure (health/wealth) rather than Jesus. Literally, health and wealth become the measure of one’s faith. It is a far cry from the Gospel of the Scriptures, and certainly wasn’t a Gospel Mordecai subscribed to.

Consider Mordecai’s faith in the face of possible annihilation. Although, he pressures Esther to act, he is confident God will preserve a remnant of his people even if she chooses not too. His faith in the promises of God extend far beyond his own comfort (health-wealth) and self-preservation. Mordecai was a rock! He had confidence in God to fulfill His covenant promises even though he might die. When you face adversity do you have that kind of faith? Your answer will determine what kind of Gospel you subscribe to.

Move

Re: Verse reading–1 Kings 19:1-18 (day six)

The human heart is so fickle. One minute it can swell with confidence, and the next be overrun by fear. That was certainly true of Elijah. Elijah was afraid for his life, not to mention he was depressed over the lack of repentance, so he ran as far away as he could. Interestingly enough God does show up, but he doesn’t console him; he tells him to prepare himself for his next task.

What if the spiritual antidote to fear is movement? What if fear is overcome not through consolation but by obeying God, doing the things you know he wants you to do? Perhaps fear will never be overcome by hiding in caves, but by seeing God at work in our own obedience.

The Pit of Despair

Re: Verse reading–Numbers 13:26-33; 14:1-9 (day six)

In the Princess Bride, Wesley finds himself in the Pit of Despair where he is tortured and ultimately dies…at least mostly. His body is rescued by soon-to-be accomplices. They then take his body to a magician who works a miracle on the mostly-dead Wesley. Immediately he becomes conscious, but must slowly regain his strength over the course of the movie in order to rescue the damsel in distress. Great movie!

We too can find ourselves in our own pits of despair, with no apparent way out. It could be related to health, finances, or relationships; regardless of the source, we can feel helpless and hopeless. That is how the spies felt in Numbers 13 and 14 (except Joshua and Caleb) as they faced the obstacles ahead of them in claiming the Promised Land. They couldn’t see how they could overcome it; they were helpless and hopeless, and it infected everybody. With the obstacles so great, they had forgotten all that God had already done as well as his promises. We can fall into this sin just as quickly, can’t we?

The apostle Paul wrote from prison in Philippians 4:12-13, “I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” Two things to notice here, one Paul learned, it wasn’t immediate, he had to grow in the Gospel; two, God did not necessarily whisk him away out of every despair inducing circumstance. It is clear, like Joshua and Caleb, Paul learned to cling to the promises of God based on what Jesus had done in the Gospel. Even though we may find ourselves in the pit, we do not despair because Jesus has already overcome the world; his promises hold true for all eternity!

That is far better than a giant miracle pill!

Signs

Re: Verse reading–Exodus 3:7-15, 4:1-17 (day six)

What if they don’t believe me? Or think I am weird? What if they ask questions I can’t answer? Moses had these insecurities when God called him to lead his people out of slavery. God assured him that He would provide signs, signs that would lead people to believe that what he said was true.

Jesus promised the church signs as well. He said, “If you love one another, then they will know you are my disciples.” In His high priestly prayer he also said, “Lord may they be one as we are one,…so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you have loved me.” Two signs, love and unity. The promise is that when we love the way Jesus loved, when we see and savor God in unity then the world will believe God’s message of reconciliation.

What sign does your family, co-workers, and neighbors need to see?

Out of Hiding

Re:Verse reading–Genesis 3:1-19 (day six)

“And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God…” Genesis 3:8

This is remarkable, only moments before if they had recognized God’s presence they likely would have run to him, but not now. It had to have been a very peculiar feeling, fear and shame, feelings they only experienced now since their eyes had been opened by the Knowledge of good and evil. The serpent promised they would become like God, but truly they became alone out of fear. They weren’t made to experience either, nor were we.

Notice though what God does almost immediately.

“But the Lord God called to the man and said to him…” Genesis 3:9.

Grace is God finding you and bringing you out from the shadows. He triumphs over your fear; he brings you out of hiding. That’s the good news of God!

Our Own Image

Re:Verse reading–Judges 17:1-6; 18:1; 19:1; 20:1-7; 21:25 (day six)

And he restored the 1,100 pieces of silver to his mother. And his mother said, “I dedicate the silver to the LORD from my hand for my son, to make a carved image and a metal image. Now therefore I will restore it to you.” Judges 17:3

The Israelites committed two grave evils: idolatry and casting the LORD in their own image. They were quick to adopt the lifestyle of pagan worship, and even when they did get the name right (the LORD) they believed things about him or worshiped him in ways that he did not prescribe at all, not even close. Judges 17 is a keen reminder of this reality in the ancient Israelites…and us. We can make God into our own image. We can be guilty of getting His name right, but ascribing things to Him that He has not revealed. This only ever happens when we choose to listen to ourselves, others, or culture over God; or we interpret what God has revealed to us through the lens of our own choosing.

Sadly, the result is the same, chaos and subtle (and not-so-subtle) destruction. How do we ensure we are actually listening to God’s voice? Two connected ways. One, by faithfully
and regularly reading the Bible. The Holy Spirit teaches us, which means that consistent reading of God’s Word has a self-correcting affect on us; the Holy Spirit won’t let us continue casting God in our own image. Two, faithful fellowship with other Christians. When we do fellowship right, we can gently nudge each other the moment we begin to make God in our own image.

So, Christian do both faithfully! God desires that you know Him!

Taste and see that the Lord is good. Psalm 34:8

Spoken

Re:Verse reading–Judges 13:1-5, 14:1-9, 16:1-30 (day six)

But his wife said to him, “If the Lord wanted to kill us, he would not have accepted the burnt offering and the grain offering from us. He would not have shown us all these things, or have spoken to us like this just now.” Judges 13:23

A very astute argument from Monoah’s wife, “If God wanted us dead, He wouldn’t have accepted our offering or SPOKEN to us at all.” This truth is clothed in glory! Consider the ways that God speaks to us. He speaks to us through His creation (Psalm 19:2), He speaks historically and presently to us through the Word, Jesus (John 1:1-4), and He speaks through his written Word, the Bible (2 Timothy 3:16). As of 2014 the Bible has been translated into 531 languages and counting, with over 2000 other languages having a portion translated. This is in stark contrast to any other “holy” book; the Qur’an, for example, is technically forbidden to be translated from the Arabic, although translations exist. Not only has God spoken, but he is sovereignly making His revelation known to all peoples and nations. He is casting a wide net; He desires that every tribe and tongue hear His voice. Why?

We must come to the same joyous conclusion, as did Monoah’s wife, God speaks because he wants us to have life and purpose. He wants us to live! Jesus said it like this in John 17:13, “I am saying these things in the world, so they may experience my joy completed in themselves.” By knowing that God speaks, we can also know that He desires for us life, purpose, and eternal joy! What glorious news!

He’s Got the Whole World…

Re:Verse reading–Judges 11:1-6, 28-40 (day six)

He’s got the whole world in his hands; all of human history. Sometimes we can read a passage in the Bible and wonder what God is doing, or how he could allow somethings to happen. Isn’t God good? Isn’t he loving? When I read stories like Jeptha’s in Judges 11, I’m reminded it’s God’s providential hand that is guiding us towards grace. That although we feel the weight of our own brokenness and sin,(we see it in Judges 11) He does not long to leave us there.

Can you imagine for a moment if God left human history to our own sinful devices? What would history be like if God left us to manage it? The Good News is that he has not left us to ourselves. God is not haphazard, or whimsical; He does not delight in the suffering of the wicked. No, He intends to press us towards restoration. And by His grace, he alone can do it. He has the whole world in his hands.

Low

Re:Verse reading–Judges 7:2-8, 15-22 (day six)

There is great value in being brought low. In those moments you might think God unfair, unkind or even sadistic, but nothing could be further from the truth. God is none of those things, especially in those seasons of life when we are brought low. Perhaps those moments are the greatest displays of God’s grace. Jesus’ brother James argued that we should “consider it all joy,” when we are brought low because God intends great good to come of it. That certainly was the case for Gideon and his men. Facing 150,000 Midianites, God took a sizable army of 32,000 and whittled it down to 300. How much lower could Gideon go? It was in those moments though that he could see beyond his own pride so he might more fully see and trust in the God of his salvation.

The same is true of us. Our hurt and hardship is grace to us, for it is there, in that low place that we often see God most clearly. It is often then that we can finally lean on the God that gives us the greatest assurances in the Gospel, assurances of victory and restoration!

Mighty

Re:Verse reading–Judges 6:1-2, 11-28, 36-40 (day six)

Really, what made Gideon mighty? Was it his extensive military training, or the way he held his sword…no wait, he didn’t have either of these things. Or maybe it was his keen ability to hide? How about his articulate, well-worded complaints about the absence of God? Those must have caught God’s attention. It was none of those things. Either God was being sarcastic or he has another definition entirely. I choose the latter.

By all accounts Gideon was a weak, inexperienced, reluctant farmer. He was not the ideal leader (he was no Samson), far from it. And yet God sees might in him. God saw the smallest amount of faith in Gideon; the size of a mustard seed. It was enough to make him mighty! God measures mightiness in units of faith, and the smallest amount goes a long way. How about you? Are you mighty by God’s standards?